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'Thought I was going to have to drop someone in my house': Phoenix man wakes up to intruder in home

Police said the the home invasion suspect was arrested after attempting to sexually assault a woman inside her home.

It wasn't a typical Monday morning for Gage Underhill.

Underhill, who lives in Phoenix near 28th Street and Osborn Road, awoke to find someone in his bedroom.

"I was woken up to find someone standing at the foot of my bed," Underhill said.

Underhill said the person was swaying and staring right at him. He said everything went through his mind at that moment. Did his roommate come home early? Was it his 19-year-old daughter? Why was this person staring at him sleeping?

"When I finally woke, three seconds felt like an hour, I noticed it was someone who didn't belong here," Underhill said.

Underhill, who said he retired from military and law enforcement after 26 years, grabbed a gun that was near his bed. 

"I hit him with the laser [sight] and said you need to expletive get out of my house," he said.

Underhill said the man bolted through his house and out his back door, where Underhill thinks he had entered through. He went through his house clearing rooms, he told his daughter, who was home at the time, to call 911.

The suspect jump over his backyard fence into his neighbor's yard, Underhill said.

Credit: Maricopa County Sheriff's Office

Police said after fleeing Underhill's home the 32-year-old Francisco Beltran Mesa entered a neighbor's home where he attempted to sexually assault a woman.

According to the police, the woman, who woke up to the man attempting to assault her, fought back and called her adult son. Beltran Mesa fled and was arrested while trying to climb on the roof of another home in the area. 

"I honestly thought for one second I was going to have to drop someone in my house," Underhill said.

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